


The Kids Are Alright

by TheLadyKing



Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Childhood Trauma, David Ryder- hotshot older twin extraordinaire, F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi, Original Character-centric, Polyamorous Character, Polyamory, Series of Oneshots, TAKING PROMPTS, romance isn't set, smut in later chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-08
Updated: 2017-05-07
Packaged: 2018-10-29 09:55:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10851576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLadyKing/pseuds/TheLadyKing
Summary: A series of one shots around my imaginings for my Female Ryder, David. Told through various points of view but centered on David's life before and after the beginning of Andromeda.Not told in a linear fashion.---1. David wants to know why her parents are arguing so much and Scott's going to help, whether he wants to or not.





	The Kids Are Alright

**Author's Note:**

> I apologize in advance for any grammar or spelling issues. I'm unbetaed and if I waited until I caught every single mistake I'd never post anything. Anyways, enjoy and leave a comment.

“I don’t think we should be doing this doing this, Dave,” Scott whispered from his place beside his sister. They’d been hiding in the hallway closet for what felt like hours, waiting for their parents to leave out on one of their afternoon walks. Something they’d taken on doing since their father’s return a few weeks prior.

“Shush, ya scaredy-cat. Don’t you wanna see what Dad’s working on all the time?” David asked, turning to fix him with a stone-cold glare. Her little hands placed on her hips like she’d seen their mother do a thousand and one times.

“I do but…,” Scott started, twiddling his fingers. David looked him up and down and rolled her eyes.

“’But’ nothing. We’re getting in there and we’re checking it out. Don’t you wanna be like those action stars you watch on the vids? What if Dad’s like a supervillain and we’re the only ones who can stop his evil plot?” David cried, throwing her hands up like she’d seen so many starlets do.

Now it was Scott’s turn to roll his eyes. “Daddy’s not a villain. He’s one of the good guys,” he grumbled, crossing his arms, which even at seven seemed too long for his small body. Though, his mother was always quick to reassure him that he’d grow into them sooner or later.

“Yeah, well how do you know that?”

“Cause I watch the vids! And the vids say Daddy was in the First Concept War!”

David sucked her teeth. “First Context, ya dodo. It was the First Context War. Watching all those vids is making your brain rot.”

“It was not! I remember cause Captain Blasto did a whole episode on it last week! And Captain Blasto never lies.”

“Well he lied last week cause I know that it wasn’t the First Concept anything, that’s just stupid.”

“You’re stupid,” Scott muttered. David glared and scrunched her face into a snarl.

“You take that back or I’m telling everyone how you peed the bed two days ago!”

“I did not pee the bed! I spilled water!”

“In the middle of the night? Sure.”

“David, Scott? Are you two playing nice?” their mother, Ellen, asked from somewhere outside the little closet they’d holed themselves up in. David turned and gave Scott a pointed look, on that read very clearly ‘Tattle and die.’

“Yes mom!” they shouted in unison. They could hear their mother’s resulting chuckle and both smiled at the sound. They hadn’t heard anything like that from her since their dad had come back home.

There’d been a lot of arguments, explosive ones and silent ones alike, in the past two weeks. What any of it was all about wasn’t too clear but David, who was practically her mother’s shadow, wanted to know what all the fuss and hoopla was about. If for no other reason than to just restore a fraction of the order that had once ruled over their household.

And call her what you wanted but David wasn’t a coward.

“Well, we’re off. Play nice now,” their mother called from somewhere near the front door. David and Scott waited patiently for the door to open and listened while two sets of feet made their way out onto the porch. The two of them stood silently, waiting with baited breath, to hear the last sounds of their parents drift further and further from their home.

After five minutes David burst through the door with a grin, Scott trailing behind her, his small chiclet teeth worrying his protruding bottom lip.

“I just want to say, for the record, I don’t think we should be doing this.”

“You already said that, pea-brain. Doesn’t matter, I want to see what dad’s keeping in that workshop,” David said with a shrug as she led them through the house and upstairs to their father’s private study. They’d both been inside half a handful of times, with their father’s permission, but this was different.

“What if he’s got dangerous stuff inside?” Scott asked, a foot or so behind David who was trying to jimmy the lock open with a butter knife from downstairs. It was one of the fancy ones their mom kept in the back of the silverware drawer for special occasions. Whenever their mother used it her fine thin fingers accentuated the delicate carving of the silver, the swirls and small bird etchings looked positively regal in her hands. David held it like it was a stick, her whole chubby fist wrapped around the end.

“Danger’s my middle name,” David said, her face scrunched back into that snarl she liked to wear so much.

“I thought your middle name was Rashad,” Scott said. David stopped and turned to look at him over her shoulder.

“It’s called a joke, Scott.”

“I’m just saying, if we get caught I’m gonna say it was all your idea.” Scott crossed his arms as David turned to face him, waving the butter knife around and bumping it up against the walls.

“Well, of course it was. You’re such a stiff, Scotty. All the best ideas in this family are mine. And maybe mom’s,” David said, grinning.

Scott leaned back against the wall and rolled his eyes. “Whatever.”

David turned back and rattled the knife around in the little slot between the door and the frame. Scott watched her jingle the knife until, finally, the door popped open.

“Bam!” David shouted, jumping up for joy. Despite his earlier annoyance, Scott found himself smiling and bouncing inside along with her. They both took a moment to take in the room, though not much had changed since the last time they’d been inside.

The walls were painted a soft cream color only offset by the deep brown of the wooden furniture within. The couch along the wall closest to them was floral print and looked thoroughly out of place compared to the rest of the sleek furniture.

Scott moved around the room slowly, taking in the paintings along the walls and the little ornaments from the top down. David focused her attention right away on the data pad and computer set up on the glass topped desk further in the room.

It sat in the very center of the back wall, surrounded on all sides by more books than she had ever seen. Most people did their reading on datapads nowadays, it had been like that for as long as she could remember. Really, she’d only ever seen books here in the library and every time their father allowed them inside it seemed his collection had grown.

“Hey, David,” Scott called, climbing up on the arm of the floral couh. David turned to him and watched his arm stretch up, trying to reach something shiny sitting on a shelf just out of reach.

“What do you think that is?” David asked, making her way to him. Scott shrugged and stood slowly on shaking legs. David quickly wrapped her arms around his legs, keeping him stable while he stretched himself taut in order to reach whatever it was that had caught his eye.

“Almost,” he whispered.

David watched him try again to no avail. “I’m going to lift you as quick as I can. You gotta grab it then.”

Scott looked down and nodded at her. They shared a smile before David jerked as much of his weight up as she could. Scott gave a yelp, flailing his arms and knocking down the shelf.

“Ah!” they both yelled as everything came crashing down on them. Around them the broken remains of an old elephant ornament their mother kept around was spread on the floor amongst pieces of the broken shelf.

Scott scrambled down from the arm of the chair and down to the floor, trying carefully to put things back in order. David sat slowly beside him, trying to help as much as she could before something bright and glowing caught her eye. Under a scrap of dark wood sat an oblong rock, round and smooth to the touch. David picked it up and turned it over in her hands.

“Look at this,” she said, lifting the rock so Scott could see it. He places the broken pieces of the elephant down to take ahold of the rock.

“Where’d it come from?” he asked. David shrugged.

“Dunno. Cool tho.”

Scott nodded. “Yeah.”

David and Scott looked it over together, forgetting all about their earlier plan.

It seemed like just minutes had passed when they heard the door downstairs slam open, the voices of their parents following it loudly. Their mother shouted, her voice cracking in the middle of a sentence making the two of them wince.

They both looked around themselves and at the mess, suddenly panicked.

“Hey, take the rock and do to your room!” David whispered, pulling Scott to his feet with her as she stood. Scott shook his head and tried to pull her out of the room after him.

“We can both pretend we don’t know who did it,” he said. David shook her head.

“Then we both get in trouble. I’ll take the blame for this one. It was my idea.”

Scott shook his head. “No way, I knocked over the shelf. I should be in trouble.”

“Well it’s a good thing you’re both so ready to be punished because you’re both in trouble,” their father, Alec, said from the doorway. His inky black hair was slicked back away from his face, making his features seem deeper and more severe. He wore his standard issue Alliance uniform instead of civilian clothes. Behind him their mother could be seen, shaking her head and pacing.

“Scott didn’t do anything, I did everything. I should be in trouble,” David said quickly.

“No way, David didn’t do anything. I knocked over the shelf. I should be in trouble.”

Ellen stepped around Alec, leaving him a wide berth.

“You’re both definitely in trouble. What were you thinking, coming into your father’s office without permission?” she asked, her arms still crossed. She was frowning deeper now.

“Um…,” Scott started, looking over at David who shrugged.

“It was my idea. I thought… well, you two have been arguing a lot lately and I thought it had something to do with whatever dad’s working on in here,” David admitted.

Ellen sighed deeply and shook her head.

“And this is exactly what I’ve been talking about,” Alec said, coming into the room completely. He turned a fond eye onto David before turning to look over Scott who shifted nervously on his feet under his gaze. “She’d brave, stalwart, a leader. Scott is the one who needs discipline.”

“No, Alec. I don’t care how many times you say it. I’m not sending my baby off to some boarding school. He should be here, with us,” Ellen said with a note of finality.

“Then I’ll send David.”

“Alec,” Ellen warned.

“If you won’t allow me to send the one who needs it then I’ll send the one who can make the most use out of it. Military boarding school will be exactly the right fit for her.”

“Alec, I… you haven’t even asked her what she wants. Don’t you care about that?”

“I conceded with Scott. We’ll keep him here, I’ll do my best to train him. But I’m not letting David’s potential go wasted. I’ll have the paperwork done and she’ll be shipped out in two weeks,” Alec said clearly. David looked between her mother and father, feeling queasy.

“I don’t… I don’t want to leave.” Alec and Ellen both looked at her, resigned.

“It’s not about what you want. It’s about what’s best for you. Sometimes that’s the thing you want least,” Alec said clearly, his dark eyes silencing any further talk from her. She looked over at her mother, begging for her to fight like she had been doing for Scott in the past two weeks.

Ellen offered her daughter a sad little smile and David gritted her teeth.

It was settled then.

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on [tumblr](thebadlass.tumblr.com) for more Ryder sibling nonsense, general fandom wank, or to send prompts.


End file.
